A few years ago, a bride came to me with a problem. She had found these forged metal table numbers at Anthropologie but the number count only went from 0 to 9 and she had 18 tables. In addition, we needed to obviously keep the cost down but also make sure they were not too heavy so they wouldn’t tip the centerpieces over. I love a good challenge and so back to my think tank (my bathtub) I went.

The Finish: I had recently painted a cap on my tub to match the faucet. Those metallic spray paints come in every metal finish and that is all I would need to make these look like real forged metal, well that and a little paint to rub in the corners so they looked tarnished and authentic. See what great thoughts come in the tub!?

The Weight Issue: So there we were with a finish in mind but we had to also solve the issue of weight. If they were too heavy, we risked them falling out of the centerpieces. This is where I came up with Model Magic made by Crayola. Basically it is a super light weight air drying foam clay and you can do so much with this medium!

Cost: Well Model Magic cost about 20$ for a tub of three packages. I could make about 4 numbers out of one pack. Not too shabby!

The only other real expense was the numbers. Using these hard cardboard numbers allowed me to keep the font consistent and I can reuse them!

So there you have it! Dilemma solved- Have Society Picnic just make them- I’m no blacksmith but I can certainly make something that looks like metal. Check it out!